Wednesday, June 09, 2010

...there couldn't have been too many laughs. The country was at war, but on this date in 1918, Casey Stengel was coming to the plate at Ebbets Field.

Now he had played for the Dodgers for six years, then he was traded away to Pittsburgh, and now he came back. He was always popular. Crowd gave him an ovation. Casey got in the box, then he backed out and asked for time.

Time was granted. Casey turned to the crowd, took off his cap, and a bird was on his head and flew away.

One of the more memorable moments, they tell me, in baseball played anywhere.

He was something. Let's go back to this one.

Four-four in the sixth inning, and by the way, Casey went from being a so-called clown, a fellow who had studied to be a left-handed dentist — yeah that's right, left-handed dentist — anyway, Casey in his twenty-five year managerial career won ten pennants, seven World Championships.

So four-four, Justin Miller, and a ground foul off the bat of Melky Cabrera....

Stengel re-creates his stunt at a Brooklyn/Los Angeles Old-Timers Game at Dodger Stadium.